Areas subject to aircraft or missile attack are defended using stationary or self-propelled vertical ground launchers equipped with medium-range munition-configured missiles, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
Known mobile ground launchers of the type described above are unsatisfactory in terms of ease of transport and mobility, as well as in terms of operating efficiency and dependability.
In particular, transportation of known launchers, especially by military aircraft (e.g. C-130s), involves dismantling the launcher, thus preventing immediate use on arrival.
Moreover, mobile launchers of the above type cannot be reloaded independently or quickly and easily, especially at the launch site. Even in the case of more evolved launchers employing munition-configured missiles, i.e. supplied complete with a launch container, the launcher or missile battery is normally provided with a reloading unit, which impairs mobility, ease of transport and immediate deployment, creates logistic problems, and increases cost.
The cause of the above drawbacks substantially lies in the considerable weight and size of known ground launchers.
Known launchers are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,860, which describes a missile launching cell comprising an inner lining structure of composite material with surfaces designed to guide the missile during launching; and an outer casing with an end portion in the form of an integrated compensating chamber. Though cheap and lightweight, the launching cell can only be used once, and fails to safeguard the missile against accidental shock and vibration. In other words, the cell described performs no damping function, so that external forces are transferred directly to the missile.
American U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,111, on the other hand, describes a complex launcher, which differs from the object of the present invention by comprising a compensation chamber and missile rocket combustion gas exhaust conduits, and which has cavities for receiving missiles housed in launching cells.
American U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,881 describes a missile launch module that can be transported on military ground vehicles, and which, unlike the present invention, is connected in a fixed, normally vertical, position to the base structure.
American U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,882 describes a self-sufficient missile launching cell with exhaust conduits connected to the compensation chamber. The conduits guide the rocket combustion gases, deflected from the compensation chamber, to the front end of the launching tube, which also acts as a storage container.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,604, on the other hand, describes a breakthrough hatch, substantially designed to close the front end of a launching tube.